Ren-paint-art - 5/12/95 "Methods and Techniques of Painting in Early 15th Century Italy" by Tristan Clair de Lune. NOTE: See also the files: painting-msg, pigments-msg, plaster-msg, dyeing-msg, glues-msg, wood-finishes-msg, enameling-msg. ************************************************************************ NOTICE - This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday. This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with seperate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter. The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make no claims as to the accuracy of the information given by the individual authors. Please respect the time and efforts of those who have written these messages. The copyright status of these messages is unclear at this time. If information is published from these messages, please give credit to the orignator(s). Thank you, Mark S. Harris AKA: Lord Stefan li Rous mark.s.harris@motorola.com stefan@florilegium.org ************************************************************************ From: v081lu33@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu (TRISTAN CLAIR DE LUNE/KEN MONDSCHEIN) Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: RENAISSANCE PAINTING Date: 1 May 1995 06:51:33 GMT Organization: University at Buffalo Methods and Techniques of Painting in Early 15th Century Italy I: Introduction Though much scholarly attention has been paid to the composition, subject matter, and rhetoric of the masterworks of the early Quintociento in Florence, particularly as to how these works and their philosophy foreshadowed the developments of the High Renaissance, there has been comparatively little written on how the works were physically created-- the techniques and materials used, the methods of work, and even the sources of patronage. Such a study would be significant and worthwhile for a multitude of reasons. Besides being interesting in its own right, on the most practical level, it would aid in the conservation of such works, thus helping to preserve them for posterity. However, it would also help to add to our understanding of the works, for it places us in the position of the master who painted them and allows us to see their meaning from his point of view. In other words, it shows the work in the light of a far wider social, economic, and artistic perspective-- not only the what of the philosophy behind the art, but also the why. For instance, we know that the Virgin Mary's mantle is traditionally blue, but how was this deep shade of azure achieved, and what is its significance? In the process of learning this, the developing thought of the world of the Italian Renaissance is illustrated, not only as reflected in the art of the time, but in the mind of the painter and his world. The idea is parallel to what Edwin Panofsky referred to in a broad humanistic manner as "mental habits" in his essay Gothic Architecture and Scholasticism in reference to the connection between the architecture of the Gothic cathedral and the Scholastic philosophical tradition. By exposing the underlying techniques used by the artists, the methods that underpinned the visual development of the works themselves, and the artist's world, we witness physical testimony to the trends in thought. It is the intention of this paper to provide an expository introduction to this, and, in this context, shed light upon the interlinked artistic and mundane worlds of the Italian Renaissance. For the sake of brevity, we will focus on the three major forms of work in early fifteenth century Florence, Mainly, the concern will be with panel painting, though we will of necessity touch upon the miniatures of illuminated manuscripts and the fresco. The reason for discussing these three is self-evident, as a master who worked on one of these was likely to also produce two or three of the forms. Notably, the artist known to us as Fra Angelico provides an excellent illustration of this. Though we can only briefly touch on his significance (a task of volumes itself), Fra Angelico and his work will hopefully serve as an exempla for some of the techniques discussed herein. II: Fra Angelico and Panel Painting Before the popularity of oil and canvas paintings, panel painting was an art form of prime importance in early Renaissance Italy. From the Byzantines, the Italians had inherited the custom of decorating their churches with icons of saints and the Holy Family. These icons, placed over the altarpiece, were objects of veneration and supplication, carried on processions and used, in many ways, as a focus of civic pride and identification. Many were also executed for private individuals as objects of veneration or meditation. From the art historian's point of view, many of these panel commissions still survive, and are excellent examples of the trends in art of the time. One of the most famous artists of the period to work in this medium was Guido di Pietro, who changed his name to Fra Giovanni upon becoming a friar of the Observant branch of the Dominican order, but who is best known as Fra Angelico. Born in about 1400 (probably before), Angelico was recognized in his own time as one of the finest painters of his generation. He was, by all accounts, a man of great faith and piety. This spirituality is reflected in the ephemeral quality of the figures in his paintings. Even before entering the monastery at Fiesole in about 1420, Angelico had been a member of a religious confraternity, probably that of St. Luke, who was the patron saint of doctors and painters and whose members were largely drawn from the guild of the Medici e Speciali, to which painters and illuminators belonged. The notion of a monk holding a secular job or taking commissions from outside the walls of the monastery may seem strange to the modern reader, but such an occurrence was nothing unusual in early fifteenth century Italy. The brothers of the various orders around Florence often participated in the outside world, especially as painters and illuminators, with all profits going to the monastery. This was symptomatic of, and perhaps even helped to build, the developing idea of the "active life" as not inferior to the "contemplative life." A strong work ethic has been with the monastic tradition ever since St. Benedict wrote that a monk ought to engage in gainful toil. The notion that this might have germinated or given support to Salutati and Brunei's writings on the vita activa is a very logical and intriguing one. Angelico was greatly influenced in his work by Masaccio, as is especially shown by his use of perspective and placement of figures in a realistic space.1 Another great influence was Lorenzo Monaco, in whose workshop it is speculated that Angelico trained.2 As Strehlke points out in his essay in Painting and Illumination in Early Renaissance Florence, Angelico's Penitent St. Jerome also shows many compositional similarities to the reliefs on Ghiberti's Porta Paradisi, notably in the humanistic rendering of the saint set against the flat background against which he is placed.3 Angelico no doubt would have been familiar with his contemporary's work, which was displayed on the doors of the Baptistery, close by the cathedral that was the spiritual and psychological center of Florence. The art of panel painting itself is preserved by il Libro dell'arte, written in Padua by the Tuscan painter Cennino Cennini in about 1400. Il Libro dell'arte is the only manual of painting known to exist from this era, and, short of taking apart an actual tempera painting, is our best primary source. It also shows the beginnings of the methodological and practical manual as a literary form, one that would later be echoed by Machiavelli in his The Prince. As such, it is an example of the humanistic Renaissance literary tradition. The first step, naturally, was to obtain the panels upon which the painting would be executed. This was the job of a carpenter or cabinet maker. The woods favored for the job were poplar, linden, or willow, which was finely mortised and sanded smooth.4 This provided the basic framework on which the painter spread gesso as a base for the pigments. Gesso is an extraordinarily sticky and messy mixture of glue (made from boiling down the hooves and bones of animals) and finely ground plaster. It dries hard and can be given a smooth polish. Multiple layers were sometimes used, sometimes with linen cloth added as an underpinning to give additional structure and support. Cennini states that this gesso was usually obtained from apothecaries, though he also gives instructions on how to prepare it oneself.5 Again, we see the dependence of the painter upon other specialized professions, reflecting the urban world in which he, by necessity, dwelt and which could not help but to influence his art. The next stage was to trace the basic elements of the paintings onto the gessoed panel. These were usually done using preliminary sketches as a guide. Like artists today, Florentine painters had various sorts of sketches, from rough compositions to detailed figures studies. Due to their relative lack of importance to everyone save art historians, as well as the wear and tear that they were put through, few of these survive. Frederick Hart speculates in the section on tempera painting in his History of Italian Renaissance Art that such standard objects as crucifixes were drawn directly to the panel, while detailed figure studies were sketched or studied in detail.6 Another likely possibility is that painters worked from pattern books, as medieval illuminators did (such as the sketchbook of Villard de Honnecourt). Sketches were transferred to the panel either visually, or, by the mid-fifteenth century, by a technique called spolvero, or "dusting." A full-scale drawing of details or complex figures was made, with the outlines pricked out with a stylus. The back was then brushed with charcoal dust, and the raised outlines transferred by patting the front side down with a sponge. Though no spolvero remains today, we can sometimes make out the dotted outlines on period works.7 This technique was later replaced by the cartoon, a full-scale representation of the finished work which was transferred by means of tracing with a stylus. In his book, Cennini instructs that the underdrawing should be executed by means of a piece of charcoal tied to a reed or stick, so as to gain a greater vantage upon the whole work while composing. Again, we see a practical, step-by-step guide to the creation of a work of art, a technique which had traditionally been passed down by apprenticeship. The charcoal sketch could then be erased by means of a feather, which allowed the artist to modify his design if elements did not please him. Finally, the underdrawing was completed by going over the charcoal with a brush made from the hair of a minever (squirrel) dipped in an ink-and-water wash. The charcoal was erased, the drapery folds were shaded in, and so was some of the shading. What was left was the basic form of the painting.8 Bibliography Primary Sources: Alberti, Leon Battista. On Painting (Della Pittura, trans. John Spencer). Yale University Press: New Haven. 1966. Cennini, Cennino D'Andrea. The Craftsman's Handbook ((Il Libro dell'Arte, trans. Daniel V. Thompson). Yale University Press: New York. 1933. Tertiary Sources: Alexander, Jonathan J.G. Medieval Illuminators and their Methods of Work. Yale University Press: New Haven. 1992. Hart, Frederick. Italian Renaissance Art. Prentice Hall,Inc: New York. 1987 Painting and Illumination In Early Renaissance Florence. The Metropolitan Museum of Art: New York. 1994. 1 Painting and Illumination in Early Renaissance Florence, 26 2 Painting and Illumination in Early Renaissance Florence, 31 3 Painting and Illumination in Early Renaissance Florence, 27 4 Cennini, The Craftsman's Handbook 71 5 Cennini, 73 6 Hart, History of Italian Renaissance Art, 35 7 Hart, 35 8 Cennini, 75 Following the underdrawing, the next stage was to add the gilding. Many early Renaissance paintings feature gold backgrounds for a number of reasons, though this style was beginning to change in the period under consideration. Gold was aesthetically pleasing to the eye, a symbol of the wealth of the patron, and alchemically considered the highest of metals, being associated with the sun. It also represented an undifferentiated infinitude for the background of religious paintings, thus suggesting heaven. The growing trend in such works, though, was to replace the gold background with backgrounds that placed the figures in realistic space and perspective. This had a tendency of bringing them down to a human level, and is exemplified by Masaccio's Trinity fresco in Sta. Maria Novella. It is also evident in the vast majority of Fra Angelico's work, notably the San Marco altarpiece, which was itself completed by Angelico's fellow artist Lorenzo Monaco and was influenced by Alberti's treatise on perspective.1 The gold leaf was pounded flat into thin sheets, probably by a goldsmith, and applied with a red glue called bole. In his manual Cennini goes into depth on the fine and meticulous art of applying delicate gold leaf to a panel, even specifying the best sort of weather to perform such work in.2 The actual painting was begun with what Hart calls the underpainting, which was executed in terra verde (green paint made from colored earth). The colors themselves were carried by a medium of egg tempera, which is the white of eggs (albumen) beaten until it is smooth. Egg tempera dries rapidly into a protein polymer, and is very permanent. Another medium was linseed oil, which was prepared by boiling and letting it stand. Cennini speaks of it in reference to fresco paintings as well as in panel paintings. Oil paints came to be of prime importance in the later fifteenth century, as canvas began to replace wood as the medium of choice for artists and patrons. The oil paints were also used on wall paintings, according to Cennini's manual, but Hart specifies that a water medium was used on frescos.3 The pigments were made of ground minerals found naturally, such as hematite (which gives a red color) or the terra verde, or materials prepared by an alchemist, such as the verdigis for green. Cennini goes into great detail on the ration of the paints, which takes up an entire section of his manual.4 The painter's grinding of his own pigments is quite possibly reason why they were members of the guild of the Medici e Speciali, as doctors and alchemists, too, ground their minerals and medicines. One particularly important pigment which merits especial mention is the ultramarine blue, the production of which took a long, involved alchemical process that lasted days. The raw material was lapis lazuli stone, which was imported all the way from Afghanistan. Cennini speaks of an ounce of high-quality ultramarine blue as being worth eight ducats5, which makes it precious indeed. It is this blue which was used for the Virgin's robe and which astounds even modern viewers with its beautiful depth of color. It was also this blue which designated Mary as the Queen of Heaven and which attested to the wealth of the person who could afford such expensive materials. In the symbolism of the painting, then, the pigments could carry a great deal of significance, both because of their spiritual meaning and their material cost. Cennini then goes on to give various practical instructions for the painting of human figures, of clothing and drapery, and of various natural things such as mountains and water. To create drapery, he advises cutting the paint with white, thus producing lighter and darker shades to represent the play of light upon the folds. Conspicuously absent are any instructions on the painting of architecture, which poses an intriguing mystery. Either Cennini thought this so obvious that he thought it redundant to write about, or else he thought it to be not as important as the other items. Equally intriguing are his instructions on the proper bodily proportions of a well-formed man.6 This seems to be early documentation of the Renaissance concern for human perfection and the dignity and perfectibility of man. It shows great concern for naturalism and the ideals of beauty in this world. In this way, Cennini shows himself to truly be speaking from the point of view of the new school of thought. He does not advise exaggerating figures to show supernatural qualities, rather, he gives steps towards creating an idea of earthly human beauty. This worldly concern is also shown by his giving an enormous amount of instruction on ways to represent various materials and garments. The final step in the creation of a panel is the varnishing. Cennini advises the painter to ideally wait a year or more before performing this task, as the varnish can dim the brilliant colors of the other temperas. One way to immediately give a painting the appearance of varnishing is to do it once over with clear egg tempera.7 However, if the painting is properly varnished, the effect is striking, for Cennini speaks of the colors of being fixed permanently and their brilliance magnified.8 The veracity of Cennini's description of the process of creating a panel painting is borne out by the restoration process described by Hart in his History of Italian Renaissance Art.9 In this case, the wood that a Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints done by Fra Angelico had been painted upon was rotted, and the painting had to be transferred to a new panel. Layers of cheesecloth with a plastic adhesive were layered over the front of the panel, and the wood and gesso then picked and scraped out. When this was completed, the only thing remaining of the original painting was the pigment clinging to the cheesecloth. The ink underdrawing, terra verde underpainting, and the broad areas of color under the drapery were revealed, as were the peaks in the paint where it had filled in the punched patterns caused by the spolvero technique. The paint veneer was then attached to a new surface, the adhesive dissolved, and the cheesecloth removed, resulting in a fully restored painting. III: Manuscript Illumination In the world before the printing press, books were hand-copied and illuminated. This practice continued to a degree after Gutenberg's innovation, reaching its last hurrah in the sixteenth century. Producing a work of this sort was an expensive proposition, then, both in terms of materials and for the labor of the skilled artisan who painted the miniatures. Books, be they psalters, songbooks, or copies of the Aeneid, were often made on commission for wealthy patrons. Often, such a contract included room and board for the illuminator.10 These patrons also often specified what miniatures they wished painted into their books. Purchasing a book was not only an investment in the world to come, but a sign of status. Fra Angelico was not himself primarily an illuminator. However, despite a widely held belief to the contrary, perpetrated since the nineteenth century, he did illuminate manuscripts. The misconception that Angelico was never an illuminator probably stems from the Victorian attitude that such an advanced, enlightened painter would never have engaged in such a "medieval" art form. To the contrary, not only did Angelico likely work for some time in his monastery's scriptorium (though we have no concrete proof of this), the man who was his sponsor for the Confraternity of St. Luke, Battista di Biagio Sanguigni, was a professional illuminator. Despite all this, Fra Angelico is always listed in records as having been a painter, not an illuminator.11 1 Spencer, On Painting, 30 2 Cennini, 78-88 3 Hart, 38 4 Cennini, 20-39 5 Cennini, 38 6 Cennini, 48 7 Cennini, 99 8 Cenators and the 9 Spencer, On Painting, 30 10 Cennini, 78-88 11 Painting and Illumination in Early Renaissance Florence, 26 Some of Fra Angelico's miniatures are reproduced in Painting and Illumination in Early Renaissance Florence.1 The examples shown therein show a kaleidoscopic and sweeping quality to his work, as if "impatient within the confines"2 of miniatures. His illumination displays the same radiant colors and placement of figures in real space that his painting does. The first step in the production of an illuminated manuscript, naturally, is to procure the book that is to be illuminated. In this case, illuminators throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (and even today) favored vellum, which is tough, cream-colored parchment made from the scraped and tanned hides of a calf, kid, or sheep. Vellum has an advantage in that it is tough and durable and in that it takes pigments well. The vellum was prepared beforehand by the parchment-maker, and then purchased by the illuminator or his patron. The first marks an illuminator made on the parchment was to rule out the lines of where the text was going to be and where the miniatures would be drawn. Once this was done, the basic design would be traced in, using a stylus of metal or bone, or else a pencil. In this stage, the preliminary underdrawing, was very much like that employed in panel painting. The layout helped to define the illustration's relation to the text.3 In the next step, the illuminator would begin the fine work of coloring the miniatures by means of a color wash, though this technique is only documented for earlier times and places than fifteenth century Florence.4 Fra Angelico might very well have colored the parts to his miniatures almost using the same method he painted with. The final step was to do the fine details and outlines of figures and drapery would be added with a miniature brush and add the gold leaf. The word "miniature," used as an appellation for the illustrations on such manuscripts, derives from the minium, or lead sulfide, that was used to make pigments.5 Minium gives a brilliant red color. However, like many of the colors Cennini gives recipes for, it is poisonous. The modern illuminator must take care with these ancient recipes. The most interesting thing about miniature painting, though, is not the actual methods with which the manuscripts were worked upon. Rather, it is the almost precocious quality that the composition of the illustrations exhibit. One would expect that sacred art that, by and large, was executed behind monastery walls or for wealthy patrons would have a conservative quality to it. Rather, though, illumination dating as far back as the early fourteenth century displays figures occupying real space and the beginnings of the concern for some sort of activity and awareness of the figures themselves, echoing the quality that was captured in fresco on the walls of San Francesco in Assisi by the Master of the St. Cecilia cycle. The best example of this is found in the Florentine illuminator known as the Master of the Codex of St. George, which was in fact actually once ascribed to Giotto.6 The Master of St. George is known to have painted his Codex no later than 1313, though it has been suggested that he was active as early as 1290.7 The actual form and motion of the figures are quite naturalistic. One of the most interesting figures is that found on page 90 of Painting and Illumination in Early Renaissance Florence, showing Cardinal Stefaneschi writing at his desk. The desk, given an architectural form, is displayed in a remarkably well-executed three-quarters perspective, whilst the Cardinal himself is sitting upright before his writing board, concentrating intently as he pauses in working on manuscript that he is writing while rubbing out a mistake with the speculum in his left. His ink pot is at his side, and built into the back of his desk are shelves displaying his own impressive collection of books. We get the impression of the Cardinal as a real person, someone we might know, engaged in an everyday task, rather than as an obscure authority figure raising one hand in benediction while staring off into space. A diptych attributed to the Master of St. George displays a similar concern for activity. The left panel, displaying a Virgin and child, has Mary looking frankly out at the viewer. Her throne is placed in a sort of architectural perspective that reflects the influence of Giotto.8 On the right, Mary and Magdalene gaze up at the crucified Christ with expressions of intense worry and concern on their faces. Below, a small figure (the representation of one of the donors) seems about to touch the blood dripping from Christ's wounds. Christ himself lolls on the cross, not wide-eyed as in earlier works, prefiguring his Resurrection, but quite evidently having died, showing his mortal nature. There is a truly active quality and psychological interaction between the figures, prefigured by the earlier works, but also perhaps bridging the gap to later works. These details would argue, it seems, for a transmission of new ideas flowing from illuminators to painters (though such an idea is appealing), or at the least that the illuminators were up to date with their contemporaries, rather than the laggards who practiced an outdated "medieval" art. Interestingly enough, the Church and the monastic life themselves-- the contemplative life-- might have fostered notions of the usefulness of the active life. The greater freedom that might have been allowed manuscript illuminators, or else the patronage of the wealthy, might have given them leave to experiment. Another factor might have been the relative portability of an illuminated manuscript as opposed to a fresco or panel painting, which might have more likely been encountered only after a long journey or pilgrimage in an age when travel was uncertain at best. This matter certainly bears greater investigation, but is out of the scope of this paper. IV: Techniques of Fresco Painting A fresco is, simply, a work done in plaster upon a wall. Because of this, a fresco can by its very nature be made a work intended for public consumption, as is shown by the famous examples at San Francesco in Assisi and the allegorical images of Good and Bad Government in the Palazzo Publico in Siena. It is also ideally suited for expounding ideas for private meditation, as its position on the wall draws the eye to itself and almost commands the viewer's attention. Walls done in fresco give a very ornate, layered feel to a room. To begin with, the fresco painter might or might not create preparatory drawings for the approval of the patron.9 In later works, of the fifteenth century and beyond, the use of a guide drawing or cartoon seems to have been standard practice, but improvisation could also lend fresco painting a spontaneous, dynamic quality. According to Cennini, "this is the most agreeable and impressive kind of work."10 The fresco might easily be seen give a more organic, less calculated, artistic impression. An excellent example of this is Fra Angelico's Annunciation, commissioned by Cosimo de'Medici and done in a monk's cell in the monastery of San Marco. The fresco catches the eye, despite its simple, unostentatious composition, with its elegant simplicity and colors reflecting the stark lines of the monk's cell itself. The architectural elements are light and airy, and the figures of Gabriel and Mary have an ethereal quality to them. Gabriel's wings are a sunburst of color that bespeak sanctified glory, as if he were made to soar amongst the heavenly counterparts to the triple arches that frame and unify the two main figures. To create a fresco, first a scaffolding was erected, and upon the rough plaster or arricio wall, the painter would then divide up the work of the fresco and draw a preliminary underpainting in weak earth tones. This division was necessary, for in an era with expensive artificial lighting, an artisan could only work for so many hours a day. Speed was essential, for the nature of a fresco is that it has to be done in fresh plaster. Thus, the frescos were planned with each day's work in mind so that there would not be a jarring transition at the boundaries between the sections painted on different days, though often the light failed and we can clearly see where one day's work ended and another began. The next stage was to draw in the figures and draperies with charcoal and then a reddish paint called sinopia, derived from earth tones. The sinopia was covered over by plaster, the intonaco, which was smoothed out and upon which the actual painting would be done. It was also at this phase that the artist or patron could make a final change in the composition of the fresco. Each section painted was called a giornata. The artist worked from the top of the fresco down so as to avoid dripping paint on unfinished sections. Because of this, and also the fact that it is easier to lower a scaffolding then to move it diagonally, the work was often done in horizontal strips. This was a detriment in later years when painters strove for a complete integrity of painting. This was resolved by the planning of frescos using the cartoon and spolvero technique. V: Conclusions Hopefully, this has proven an informative and interesting dissertation on the methods used by artists in the early Quintociento. By analysis of primary sources and an examination of some representative works, we have seen how the world the artist lived in and the media used in expression could have influenced their work. The artistic aspects of the Italian Renaissance did not come out of a vacuum, and several avenues of influence-- the interplay of painting and manuscript illumination, the urban world of the painter, and the possibility of the monastery influencing the outside world-- have been raised in the course of the discussion. Naturally, in the short length allowed here, only so much can be expounded upon, and these questions certainly merit further study. Bibliography Primary Sources: Alberti, Leon Battista. On Painting (Della Pittura, trans. John Spencer). Yale University Press: New Haven. 1966. Cennini, Cennino D'Andrea. The Craftsman's Handbook ((Il Libro dell'Arte, trans. Daniel V. Thompson). Yale University Press: New York. 1933. Tertiary Sources: Alexander, Jonathan J.G. Medieval Illuminators and their Methods of Work. Yale University Press: New Haven. 1992. Hart, Frederick. Italian Renaissance Art. Prentice Hall, Inc: New York. 1987 Painting and Illumination In Early Renaissance Florence. The Metropolitan Museum of Art: New York. 1994. 1 Painting and Illumination in Early Renaissance Florence, 332-336 2 Painting and Illumination in Early Renaissance Florence, 337 3 Alexander, 40 4 Alexander, 41 5 Alexander, 40 6 Painting and Illumination in Early Renaissance Florence, 90 7 Painting and Illumination in Early Renaissance Florence, 84 8 Painting and Illumination in Early Renaissance Florence, 86 9 Hart, 37 10 Cennini, 42 Edited by Mark S. Harris Ren-paint-art